


a flame to guide you

by remi_wolf



Category: Original Work
Genre: Caretaking, Chronic Pain, Domestic, Domestic Bliss, Domestic Fluff, M/M, Male Slash, Nonbinary Character, Urban Fantasy, Whumptober 2020, Witchcraft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-21
Updated: 2020-10-21
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:34:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,950
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27145982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/remi_wolf/pseuds/remi_wolf
Summary: While Christopher always seems to take care of James in both the largest and the smallest of ways, it's rare that James is able to return the favor, no matter how hard they try. At least, when Christopher's knee begins to bother him yet again, James is able to take care of him, and today, they decide to pull out all the stops. Even if the pain is from an old injury, that doesn't mean a little magic can't go a long way in helping.Whumptober Day 21: I Don't Feel So Well. Prompt: Chronic Pain.
Relationships: Original Male Character/Original Male Character
Kudos: 3
Collections: Beguilements and Distractions, Remi's Whumptober Collection for 2020, Whumptober 2020





	a flame to guide you

**Author's Note:**

> Christopher and James are old characters that I found, probably about three years ago. James is a wix who works in a variety of ways, while Christopher is their roommate and boyfriend (honestly, it's complicated and they've never really talked about it) who primarily works as a tattoo artist, though has a bit of magic of his own, as he frequently tattoos sigils and magic symbols onto his clients for various purposes.  
> I first wrote about them on my tumblr, and you might be able to find those stories again if you know where to look. I never got around to writing a full novel with them again, but at least they can make an appearance here again. Hopefully you enjoy them!

“Fuck!”

James looked up from their painting, a small frown on their face as they heard the harsh sound. That had been Christopher’s voice, but they didn’t know why he’d be swearing like that. There wasn’t time to puzzle over it, as a crash swiftly followed, and James immediately bolted to the kitchen, trying to figure out what happened. 

Christopher curled up on the floor, face twisted in pain, and James frowned as they saw the toppled chair next to him. At least it seemed the chair had just fallen over, but with the way that Chris seemed to be clutching his leg, James had a feeling that his knee was bothering him, yet again. 

“Chris, shit, you alright? Or..." James frowned as they looked at Christopher before kneeling down, trying to help push the chair a bit further away and help him to at least sit up. “Or at least, how bad are you hurt?”

Christopher glanced up at James before frowning, shaking his head after a moment before sitting up. “I’m mostly fine. Wrist’s going to be aching a little. Mostly just my knee locked up again. Ankle and knee both.”

James frowned as he looked at him before sighing, pressing their nose against Christopher’s shoulder as they reached to hold his hand tight. “Bothering you again?”

“Yeah.” Chris frowned, hand tightening in James’ grip after a moment before he sighed, relaxing. His knee really wasn’t in a very good position, though, and Chris made a face before slowly extending his leg out. The pained expression immediately returned, his hand tightening again as he hissed softly. “Fuck, that really hurts. I thought today was supposed to be a good day.”

“I said it might be, and you know that the pendulum’s always finicky. It might not have meant your knee. You know that.”

“Yeah, and your pendulum’s a piece of shit troll that needs to learn to answer the questions it’s asked. If I wanted cryptic and shit, I’d ask the tarot deck.”

James frowned, nipping Christopher’s shoulder slightly harder than necessary before rubbing their nose over the spot. “Rude. She’s trying to help. It’s not her fault she’s new to the gig.” 

Chris frowned, biting his lip before nodding. “You’re right. Fuck, why are you the one who’s always right?”

That managed to sneak a bit of a smile onto James’ face, and they pressed a quick kiss to Christopher’s cheek. “Because I’m the smart one, and you’re the pretty one.”

“Liar.”

James laughed, glad that both of them seemed to be feeling at least somewhat better, and they slowly shifted onto their knees. “Come on. Let’s get you to the couch. I’ll see if I can help today.”

“You really don’t have to.”

“I like to.” James offered Christopher a small smile before putting Christopher’s arm over their shoulders and helping him stand up. “You need to rest that knee, anyways. Should at least help you keep from locking it again until it’s easier on its own.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Chris sighed softly, looking down at his feet before slowly starting to walk alongside James. 

It was difficult, and even with James holding tight to Christopher, it was clear that it hurt every time he bent his knee. Every step and every time he put weight on it, he hissed softly, holding tighter to James, apologizing whenever he noticed just how tight the hold had become, before the cycle would repeat. Occasionally, the cycle would break as Christopher’s knee buckled a second time, forcing James to stop, or else they’d both end up toppled over again. At least their apartment was small, and at least it didn’t take too long before James had Christopher deposited on the couch.

“Going to stay put?”

Christopher gave James a level look, an eyebrow slowly raising after a moment, and James raised his hands, helpless. 

“I know, I know, but I just want to make sure. I’ll be right back, alright?”

Christopher sighed before nodding. “Yeah, I know. Mind if I flip the tv on?”

“I do mind.” James stuck their tongue out at Christopher for a brief moment before they sighed softly. “Just...give me a few minutes, alright? I’ll grab some ice, and then your braces and cane and all, alright?”

“Alright, fine.” Christopher sighed, head falling to the back of the cheap futon. James nodded, letting themselves look at the brilliant colors across Christopher’s skin, before disappearing to his room. 

Honestly, James didn’t need to grab too much, but Christopher’s knee had been bothering him more often recently than it usually had. They were rather tired of seeing it, and so they quietly collected the wax crayon as well as the ice pack and braces, along with the prettier of Christopher’s two canes. They didn’t usually pull the wax crayon out, but desperate times called for desperate measures, and hopefully it would help, especially since Christopher refused to use the medical tape anymore. Anything helped, really. 

“Back, baby.” James smiled at Christopher before setting everything down next to themselves as they knelt in front of him. “How’s it feeling?”

“Shitty, still.” Chris lifted his arm from over his eyes, glancing down at James with a small smile on his face, though. It was a small smile, and James could still see the pain etched into his face, but it was a brief moment of calm. “Better now that the weight’s off it, though.”

James nodded, pressing a quick kiss to his knee before reaching up to the waistband. “Lift up real quick. You know the braces are easier to toss on under the clothes.”

“You just want to undress me.”

A small smirk appeared on James’ face, and they shrugged slightly. “Usually, yes. Why wouldn’t I want to admire your beautiful art?”

“Oh, art, are we calling it?” Christopher laughed softly, though he lifted his hips up long enough to let James tug his trousers off. 

“Of course we’re calling it art. You’ve got more tattoos than paintings in a gallery.” James smiled as they glanced up at Chris before returning his attention back to the task at hand. They carefully folded the denim and set it aside before reaching their hands up to Christopher’s leg, slowly massaging the muscle. Tight as it was, it wasn’t surprising at all that it failed Christopher so, and James wished they had thought to grab the oil, but they’d make do for now without it. They’d spend more time taking care of Chris later that evening instead. 

“Oh. You’re..."

“Pulling out all the stops for you today.”

“ _ Oh. _ ”

James smiled at the soft sound, though they quietly continued with their work. It was easy enough to sink into the gentle motions of it. Their hands and fingertips continued to work the worst of the knots out of Christopher’s calf as they murmured in Gaelic under their breath, long sweeping blessings and requests to Christopher’s muscles to support him and take care of him, instead of failing like this. The words spiraled and tumbled, and while James could be distracted at the best of times, sinking into his work like this came easily and naturally. 

Only when Christopher’s leg seemed to be relaxed did they pull his hands away, but only long enough to reach for the crayon. Deep green and soft enough to sweep lines of symbols over his shin, they knew that it would be rubbed off once Christopher brushed his leg against something, but that wasn’t the point. The energy and care he put into the elongated stars and the curves of the sigils would help on their own, especially in combination with the next few steps. Christopher seemed to be entirely relaxed at this point, or entirely taken by James’ work, not that James noticed. The only thing that filled their sight was quietly trying to soothe this injury and ache as best they could, even if they could only help Chris for the next hour or two. 

Once the sigils had been placed, James set it aside, slowly rubbing their thumbs to their middle fingers, sighing as they built the energy up. 

“Truly taking care of me.”

The quiet voice shocked James enough that their concentration broke, and they glanced up at Christopher, a blush swiftly coloring their cheeks. It wasn’t that being called out like this embarrassed them, but they didn’t exactly know what to do with the newly-noticed attention placed on them. They were so used to only taking care of Christopher in the mundane sense that they had somehow forgotten that this rarely happened, expending magic to help an old injury and pain that was strictly natural in origin. 

“I just...want to help.” James’ voice was quiet in the room, and they shrugged quickly, looking over the lines he had just drawn instead of at Christopher. They tapped their hands against their thighs, and after a moment, their eyes flicked elsewhere. They felt jittery all of a sudden, and part of them wanted to disappear on a run. That would likely end up with both of them flat on their backs in bed, though, so they simply stayed put, trying to ignore the way they couldn’t stop bouncing. 

“It’s...fuck, it’s okay, Jamie. Seriously.” 

James glanced up at Christopher, stilling momentarily before they looked away, starting to chew their lip, practically gnawing at an old worry spot. “Sure?”

“Yeah. Keep going, alright? Feels nice, so far. Doesn’t hurt as much.”

James smiled faintly, glancing up at Christopher again before turning back to his leg once more. The focus wasn’t quite there, but they closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. They took a second breath, and held it. 

After a moment, they slowly exhaled, reaching their hands back to Christopher’s knee. On either side, they slowly gathered their energy back to his fingertips, palms buzzing almost immediately as they slowly circled their thumbs around the very tips of their middle fingers. They took another deep breath, closing their eyes, before snapping.

Blue flame immediately ignited at the tips of their thumbs, lighting the back of his eyelids with the brilliance, with a deep channel of purple energy appearing where Christopher’s leg settled against their lap. It was far easier to see the troubles like this, the swirls of brilliant violet caught up in eddies of deep magenta in his knee, and at his ankle, along the ligaments and tendons that were most inflamed today. No wonder his leg was having such an issue. 

James slowly moved their thumbs, guiding their blue energy through the magenta, burning away the worst of the aches and guiding fresh violet energy to return and fill the space, allowing it to flow far easier than it had a moment earlier. The green of the sigils burned against the magenta as well, keeping the worst at bay from returning, and James smiled quietly to themselves as they turned to Christopher’s ankle, repeating the careful process there as well. It took longer than they expected, but then again, they were being far more careful with Chris than they usually did with their own aches, but they finally pulled the last of the excess blue energy away, flicking it off their fingers before opening their eyes again. 

Chris was sound asleep.

James smiled faintly as they looked up at him, listening to the quiet snores before pressing a light kiss to Christopher’s knee, and then his ankle. At least he could properly rest his body now. With a soft sigh as they turned to flip the tv on as quietly as they could, they started icing Chris' ankle, sure he'd appreciate the more mundane care that they could provide as well. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much for reading! Comments are always appreciated!


End file.
